Tim Lebbon – horror and dark fantasy author

I hope everyone reading this has a Happy New Year.  Enjoy whatever it is you might be doing for New Year’s Eve––we’ll be at a party at the local village hall, and the kids will be having their latest night of the year.  On New Year’s Day we’ll be going for a long walk with a bunch of friends from the village, and then it’s all back to normal … back to work, back to school, and I’m glad for it.  Christmas is fun, but it lasts too long.

So, what will 2011 bring?  For me, some exciting book releases, a slight change of emphasis in my writing, and a few fun trips.

First, book releases.  The Wild is due out in March, Echo City (from Orbit UK) in June, and The Shadow Men from Bantam in June in the USA.  There’ll be other new releases too, but more news on these as they come in.

I’m writing a new novel for Orbit right now, and I’ll also be working on the second novel for Corsair (soon-to-be publishers of Coldbrook), as well as short stories and novellas for a few places.  I’ll also be writing a comic, more of which soon.  And in 2011 I’ll also be concentrating more on screenwriting, after working for Fox2000 this year on the Jack London series, and thoroughly enjoying it.  I intend doing a lot more screenwriting this year, and the next solo project is already full steam ahead.

I’ll also spend 2011 collaborating with some of my best friends on some thrilling projects.  Stephen Volk and I have almost finished our first screenplay together.  Christopher Golden and I will be writing the third in our series The Secret Journeys of Jack London, as well as other great projects we’ve been talking about for some time.  And there’s the YA novel with my mate Mark Morris, and a TV series collaboration with a good friend in LA, and a few other projects which I’m hoping will take off next year.

So, exciting times.  A trip to LA and, I hope, the World Horror Convention, will be a highlight of the year.  As will a determination to complete the Three Peaks Challenge (climbing the three tallest mountains in the UK in the space of 24 hours).  2011 is already shaping up to be a scorcher, and I hope you’ll check back here to see what’s going on.

Happy New Year to you all.  Be nice to each other.  Keep reading.  Stay safe.

…where else, right?

This evening I’m off to Borders in Cardiff with my mate Steve Volk to watch our friends Guy Adams, Mark Morris and Sarah Pinborough (and Peter Anghelides, who I’m looking forward to meeting) talk about their Torchwood novels.  From there, pub and curry of course.

Full report soon!

Fantasycon have announced their Guests of Honour for this year’s convention. A great line-up, eclectic and interesting.  Fantasycon is one of my favourite convenions, and I never miss it, even if I have to sell a limb to get there. I still have four … but who knows what the future may hold.

You know what I don’t see much at Fantasycon?  Americans.  I’ve spent years travelling over the water to US conventions (as have Mark Morris, Sarah Pinborough, Graham Joyce, Stephen Volk, Mark Samuels, Simon Clark, Gary Greenwood, Stuart Young, Stephen Jones etc etc etc).  I reckon I’ve been to about a dozen.  About time some of you buggers came over here!

No, it’s not the title of a new book of mine.  It’s what I’ve got.  And in fact my whole family have it apart from my daughter, who’s skipping around as bright as ever.  We’ve got fevers, coughing fits and hot-and-cold sweats.  And suffering from this, yesterday I made the journey to London for a frantic series of meetings with my agents Howard Morhaim (over from New York) and Caspian Dennis, as well as my lovely UK publishers Allison & Busby.  It was a long hard day – and I didn’t have time to meet everyone I’d have liked! – but I’m glad I made the trip … especially as I normally only see Howard and Caspian once each year.

Had some news about an exciting new book deal!  Watch this space for an announcement soon.

On the train home, feeling very rough, I resolved to have a kip.  Imagine my delight when I realised I was sitting next to a woman with a 6 month old baby, and a family of 2 parents and 4 kids on their way home from a visit to Lapland.  Oh well …. they were all very pleasant, and I listened, soaking up the conversations … it’s all research, you know.

And following news about the drastic shake-ups at Random House and Simon & Schuster yesterday, I just keep on keeping on.  As a writer it’d be easy to panic, but panic leads to stress, and that’d lead to less writing getting done.  I’m working on fantasy novels, collaborations, tie in novels, a crime novel, YA novels, screenplays, a TV series pitch …. and other things.  And for me, that’s the only way to be.  Keep your head down, and keep on on writing.

This weekend, my mate Mark Morris is coming to stay.  I hope he likes dogs, because Blu has grown into a monster!